Mad wizards sure were busy in the olden days. Here’s another of their creations:

Owlbear

HD 5+2 (average hp 24/25)AC 5THAC0 15 (will hit the bulette on a 17 or better)No of atts 3 (claw, claw, bite)Damage per att 1-6/1-6/2-12Average damage 3.5/3.5/7If it scores 18 or better on a hit with its paw, it has dragged the victim to itself and will do it 2-16hp per round hug damage until it is killed.

225 + 8/hp

There is a 20% chance that each owlbear will hit the bulette, whilst the bulette has a 70% chance of hitting.

An owlbear would have to hit a bulette seven times to have a chance of killing it. Since there is only a 20% (1/5) chance of this happening and an owlbear per round will be killed 70% of the time, it stands to reason that 5 owlbears are needed to ensure that proportionally, one gets a hit in. Since that hit will only do on average 1/7 of the HTK for the bulette, we’d need seven times that many to ensure that the bulette will die. So that’s 35 owlbears to one bulette. Or maybe that’s just my dodgy maths.

In total, the bulette has inflicted damage of 51 points of damage on the unfortunate owlbear 1. A definite kill.

To be fair, let’s allow both owlbears to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 1Bite 6 missClaw 9 missClaw 6 miss

Owlbear 2Bite 16 a pretty good roll, would have hit AC-1 but unfortunately it needs to hit AC-2 Claw 15 missClaw 6 miss

Round 2 – so now we’re down to one owlbear and the bulette has taken no damage. Let’s give the owlbear a chance and say that the bulette has raised its fin, giving an area on its back AC6. We’ll say that if the owlbear rolls an 18 or higher, it’s hit this area and can then roll to hit AC6 rather than AC-2

Bulette attacks, rolls the following dice:

Bite 2 Claw 18 for 6 damageClaw 12 for 7 damage

In total, the bulette has inflicted 13 points of damage on the unfortunate owlbear 2, reducing it to 12hp left.

Let’s again allow the owlbear to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 2Bite 9Claw 4Claw 6

So none of its attacks hit that vulnerable area of AC6. Let’s see if they get through the bulette’s armour this time.

Bite 6Claw 13Claw 5

Nope.

Round 3 – so now we’re down to one owlbear that’s taken damage, and the bulette has still taken no damage.

Bulette attacks, rolls the following dice

Bite 11 hit – I rolled 2, 2, 6 and 4 – 14 in total, so that kills the owlbearClaw 5 missClaw 13 hit - 8 damage, which knocks a bit more off the body of the owlbear

In total, the bulette has inflicted 22 points of damage on the unfortunate owlbear 2. It’s dead meat. Dinner time for the bulette.

Let’s again allow the owlbear to attack on the same reaction

Owlbear 2Bite 6Claw 19 – yay, the claw has hit the vulnerable area of softnessClaw 10

Bite 4 missClaw To hit AC6 is a mere 9 or better, so here goes – 10, yes it’s a hit. Damage of 5, so that brings the bulette down to 35hp. Whew, that’ll teach him to take on two owlbears at the same time.Claw 6 miss

Okay, so that might have been a fluke. Let’s do it again, just to be sure.

6 comments:

This ruled! I was sorry to see the owlbears get so utterly defeated while scoring so few meaningful hits themselves, but I guess that means owlbear hunting parties going after bulettes should get at least five (maybe even your "safe" estimate of 35!) owlbears to go along.

I imagine that a hunting party of even two or three owl bears could take down a bulette. THat problem is that if you run the simulation as a straight combat, it will always go as you suggest above. What the bugbears should have going for them, and this is not reflected in your simulation, is a level of cunning and planning far beyond that of the bulette. I imagined that at the very least, they would have a net. If I were a member of a bugbear hunting party trying to get a bulette to make armor out of, I would also construct a couple of traps of the deadfall nature, and try to lure the bulette underneath them. I would also have my companion in a position that granted him some tactical advantage, on top of a large rock out of reach and armed with a pile of javelins, for instance, while I ran around and tried to distract the bulette.

Part of being a good DM, IMO, is playing creatures that have greater than animal intelligence as if they actually wanted to survive. Far too many bugbears, goblins, orcs, et al, have waded into combat without the slightest chance of winning or strategy because the DM controlling the universe hasn't put him or herself in the shoes of his monsters.

I think you're mixing owlbears and bugbears here, or at least you seem to be from the shift in your first paragraph. I wholly agree with you that humanoids will kick ass if played as cunning and thoughtful - bugbears have low to average intelligence, and should certainly be able to cook up something along the lines of the neat ambush scenario that you outlined.

Two words - Tucker's Kobolds.

Indeed, in a recent dungeon, I had two bugbear brothers lay a party of dead adventurers out in a room, scattered with gold and neat items and lie in wait, knowing that the first thing a PC party would do is loot the bodies. The bugbears would then get a first strike in from behind, with more or less total surprise. Which is just what happened. Of course the dwarf fighter getting a double 20 and decapitating one of the bugbears put a stop to that particular scheme.

According to the Owlbear write up in the MM, they are 'ravenous eaters, aggressive hunters and evil-tempered at all times. They attack prey on sight and will fight to the death'. So I reckon that a 'charge in and attack without really thinking it through' approach would be realistic for these guys.

Thanks for the comment and keep dropping by. I'll have more interesting stuff as the weeks go on.

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